The Dresden Legacy: Lone Warden
by HollyinSanest
Summary: Maggie Dresden, cryptozoologist, reaccounts the first time she properly met Warden Bill Meyer. One shot. Very AU.


The Dresden Legacy: Lone Warden

Disclaimer: Don't own any of this. Not even the stuff that may not be in the original Dresden Files series, I'm that lazy.

Synopsis: Maggie Dresden, cryptozoologist, reaccounts the first time she properly met Warden Bill Meyer. One shot. Very AU.

AN: One-shot AU where Maggie grows up and joins the ICD (International Cryptozoology Department) and she practically sort of becomes the Newt Scamander for the Dresdenverse except she doesn't have a case full of magical creatures, only a big dog named Mouse.

xxx

Bill Meyer. Wizard. Warden. Real tall (at least taller than I am) and always said 'howdy' when he answered the phone. Knew my Dad before all the Winter Knight business happened.

Anyway, it has been almost five years since I've got myself elbows deep with the International Cryptozoology Department, it felt like it was a century since I've graduated from what they called the 'Institute', a place where anyone could learn up the basics of handling cryptos and understanding the preternatural. Think of it as Hogwarts for cryptozoologists.

It was mostly learning how to handle creatures in various situations and sounded more of an advanced class for Care for Magical Creatures . Except maybe most if not all of said creatures don't take it too kindly to wizards and Muggles. And some would probably want to eat every other living thing they come across.

Dad had always made a point to remind me how much easier it could've been if I had taken up the offer Georgia had put up to join her team of PI. But there was always a proud gleam in his eyes behind all the Winter Knight facade. To him, I was still his little girl.

Back to my point.

Bill. Freaking. Meyer.

He had the air of a seasoned Warden. Not in the stuck up way (based off my dealings with Aunt Luccio) but it was obvious enough when he tensed in my presence as if anticipating trouble to follow. An old habit maybe. It probably had much to do with the influence Dad and Molly had casted to the magical world.

I didn't know if I should be insulted.

He had, after all, helped Dad with the whole Ragnarok thing. I'll admit, I probably did stare at him a lot while standing by the sidelines of the big fight. I could rave on and on but I wasn't going to put on a schoolgirl act. It would've been embarrassing.

The first time we've properly met was solely by chance, neither Dad nor Abe had been there. Molly was attending to whatever business she'd been arms deep in since taking on the title. Plus at that point, she sees more of Carlos Ramirez, an 'excommunicated' Warden who sought shelter under Queen Mab's domain.

Back to my story.

A killer unicorn was on the loose in Central Park.

No, not the kind most little girls dream off. It wasn't a lifesized my little pony chewing on the front of T-shirts and the nipping kind of unicorn. It had to be the sort with a mothful of teeth and a mean horn, always at the ready to give charge and probably take a few bites off practically anyone.

It wasn't an odd sight, not since the Nevernever started thinning itself for all sorts of creatures coming over to our side of the Muggle world. Much to Dad's chagrin, I had and will always be an avid Potterhead. Blame it on Murphy who gifted me the whole collection when I was a child. And probably Uncle Thomas who sent me my Hogwarts letter when I was eleven.

Nevertheless, it would've attacked anyone or anything on sight. The ICD was by a large margin shorthanded back then. The lack of new faces and the near shudown by the Wardens are partially to be blamed. Dad stopped most of the crude executions of warlocks with the support of the newer recruits, so the Wardens had to basically build themselves from the ground up.

So there I was, trudging through Central Park at night one of the worst New York winters in search of said killer unicorn with my oversized dog, Mouse. I had my witchlight on, a small little stone which emitted enough of a dull glow. It wasn't the best option but I wasn't going to lose a fight just because I've tired out casting a light source.

For appearances sake, I had Mouse on a custom made doggie harness, big and loose so that he would be comfy. On either of its side, a velcro paste-on declaring Mouse as a service dog, in case we had to get through crowds or worse, law enforcements.

Mouse chuffed, stopping with his hackles raised. Then, he started emitting a low growl. He had something.

"Where is it, Mouse?" I asked. Except for maybe the few passing vehicles, there weren't anyone sane enough to brave the weather let alone the possible ferocious hooved beast.

This was as troubling from the start like a Boogeyman hunt. I shivered. The chill wasn't from the drop in temperature. Then as if struck by pure flight instinct, I had the urge to bolt and take shelter.

Mouse let out a deeper growl, enough to shake the ground we were standing on. I reached out a gloved hand to get a grasp of Mouse's thick mane and unclasped his leash from his harness.

Then in a flash of grey, something or rather someone pulled me down into the nearest snow drift. I had barely missed clocking my head on the nearest park bench. It had been a man with a grey cloak, no doubt a Warden. He was lanky but never quite a match to go against Dad. His short blonde hair was brushed back, leaving its ends sticking in all sorts of messy directions. Under his cloak, he had on a thick forest green jacket and blue jeans over well worn hiking boots. On his face was a look of astonishment. From the fact of Mouse's reaction to this man, he is a friendly.

'Hey, Mouse,' he whispered, rubbing my dog's head. Mouse was torn between warning us on the on-coming danger and responding to the ear rubs like a big baby he was. So he gave the man a whine in greeting and then resumed his low rumbling growl.

The man turned towards me, then glanced at my witchlight.

'I guess you know what's going on?' he asked drily, in a low voice.

'A killer unicorn is on the loose,' I said, matter of factly. This might have gotten harder to say with a straight face if I kept this up. Instead of laughing, the Warden gave me half a frown.

'Who told you that?' he snorted.

'The ICD,' I told him, pursing my lips before I started saying more than I should. Wardens weren't really friendly with the ICD. This was getting pretentious.

'Wait, you work for the crypto-zoo?' he asked. 'Thought them blokes only deal behind their desks'.

'What? Ever heard of conservationists?' I almost snapped back at him. 'Have you been living under a rock, Warden?'

'Well, tell your superiors that they're wrong. It's not any sort of unicorn,' he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. 'It's a kelpie'.

'Well, color me sideways,' I snapped at him, which in fact I hadn't intended to used the word 'color' but something rather much crude. 'Why the hell is a kelpie biting and not drowning its victims?'

Despite kelpie attacks happened most of the time when people got handsy and decided that petting the kelpie was a great idea.

'Beats me,' he shrugged.

Our conversation was interrupted by a chuff, this time not from Mouse. We did a double take. In a horror movie situation, we would've turned around slowly to reveal the kelpie standing behind us, breathing down our necks. Before it ate us, that is. But we knew better.

In a rush of andrenaline, I grabbed the Warden by the arm and we took a dash for cover. Mouse was after us as if his tail was on fire but he was also raising a racket with his thundering barks. I had a tracking runed tile tucked into the space in my sleeve. Snapping it in half, I willed the loosed spell towards the creature. It caught on undetected.

Kelpies weren't necessarily correctly represented in the movies. Most of the time, it was more horse-shaped and unfortunately the same went with its size. The one we've encountered was as large as a camel. Its skull was skeletal in nature, covered in a soft down while its mane had spimes buried under the long seaweed-like drapes.

And it has fangs.

Not large unnatural horse teeth.

Not canines.

Fangs.

'Forzare!' the Warden barked, aiming a bracer clad fist at the ground to kick up a drift of snow so that we could get a better cover. The creature made a hollow neigh, clawing at the ground with claw shaped hooves.

The Warden followed the initial spell with a 'Procella Nix Tempestes'. If my Latin was good enough to translate, it had something to do with the mini blizzard growing in front of us. A gust of wind picked up, whipping some snow about, enough to hinder visibility more than two feet away.

One thing about nature in truth was that predators were always faster. A kelpie basically hunts humans. And no surprise there. Predators. We needed more than cover. And the Warden knew it. So, running away didn't quite cut it.

The only way I could think of was to get the kelpie through the Nevernever and pray hard that it wouldn't pop back into the Muggle world from that other end. Seemed like my only plan now. Looking towards the Warden, I shouted, 'I'm opening a route to the Nevernever'.

The Warden squinted at me past the mini snowstorm he had kicked up.

'What?' he shouted back.

I chose to save my breath and worked on focussing in opening the route. Intention. Intention. I clutched the pentagram amulet ganging from its chain around my neck. Intention. Intention. Intention...

Destination.

The Nevernever's opening shimmered before us, almost like a tear in reality. But really, it's a doorway From my bend, it looked like it was summer. Which meant we were far from Queen Mab's domain. Dad had initially taught me on opening a path using physical doorways.

Yes, literal door frames.

That was until he learned that I had inherited the long lost natural talent of Margaret LeFay, which meant I had a knack in navigating the Nevernever's rough terrain. That and the intuition on getting the appropriate location back from the Nevernever so that we wouldn't end up in the middle of Paris or stranded in the Saharas.

But the Warden wasn't aware of what I could do. From a professional stance, he hadn't freaked out in any way. Just probably a little concern showing through his expression as I gestured for him to follow me.

He and Mouse did so obligingly. The tracker worked through the Nevernever, its signal making my pentagram amulet thrum in my hand. Turning around, I closed our entrance.

Taking a few paces forward (five to be precise) from our initial doorway, I opened another. If the tracker was accurate, this puts us just right next to the kelpie. The Warden didn't have his sword with him which would have been a crying shame if not for the ICD demanding creatures to be treated fairly. Think PETA but for cryptos. I'd call it some bull procedure. Don't think anyone would react with kindness and compassion if it were a manticore trying to take a bite .

The kelpie let out a full blown roar, taking a snap at the direction of my face. Mouse lept to my defense, letting out a sharp bark that shook the land of the Fae. It had been loud enough to stun the kelpie. There was no point in being friendly with a kelpie. Especially when it had attempted to eat me.

Taking out the Post-it note I had tucked into my pocket, I hastily scribbled a calming rune.

The rune was a pretty standard one, coming straight from the ICD handbook. Doing a double check on the strokes, was well satisfied with it (seemed correct by my judgment) and pasted it square on the kelpie's left cheek. It finally let out a chuff and stepped aside, leaving the doorway for us to slip past intact.

'Warden, I hope you do know how to close our path,' I told him, still having my eyes on the kelpie.

The creature pawed the ground, this time less temperamental. The Warden closed the doorway, glancing warily at the kelpie.

'Is he going to snap out of it anytime soon?' the Warden asked. I could have sworned he sounded worried.

'Not intentionally,' I said. Not quite reassuring, I know.

Then I noticed that the Warden was smiling, a hand stroking Mouse's thick unruly coat. His eyes were on me. Not the kind one makes when in lust, I'm afraid. Just the kind that meant he was deep in thought. I'd ignored him, calling for backup.

Watching the kelpie, I decided another calming rune wouldn't hurt. Pulling out a paint marker, I began etching one on the kelpie's hindquarter. Then, after a silent prayer directed to an anonymous deity, I removed the Post-it noted that was stuck on its cheek.

The kelpie was as still as stone.

I breathed easy.

'You're Dresden's kid, aren't you?' the Warden asked.

'Yep. Problem?' I dared him.

'No, none at all,' he had turned away. At that time, it had probably crossed my mind that he was being callous about that fact. But now I suspected he had been hiding a smile.

'Uh...you fight OK,' he finally coughed out.

My face went warm despite the cold weather.

'You, too-I mean your moves were great, not just OK-,' I tripped over my words, internally face-palming at my 'slick' reply. Then, what followed was a long and intense moment of awkward silence. We would remain that way until the ICD arrived.

He had been kind enough to wait along with me for the ICD backup team. And after some statements and whatnot procedures that I had always thought were a waste of time, he left, probably for home. In the end, the kelpie went into ICD holding until it was released back into some nice open field through the Nevernever.

That night, Mouse earned himself a beef burger we've gotten off a fast food restaurant that was still open at that hour. Watching him wolf it down was hilarious since Mouse had always been ravenous when it came to food that had beef patties in them. I'd let him have the rest of my peanut butter shake as well, since he had manged to get me through the whole nearly getting me face ripped off by a kelpie bid.

The Warden's name is Bill, something Molly had told me after a really long conversation involving my short list of ex-s, two days later. Molly and Carlos snickered at me, probably some idea they both had in mind at that time. Probably had mostly to do with hooking me up with the Warden, or how much Dad would freak out if I were to start getting involved with Bill. Honestly, who could keep track? I sure hadn't paid much attention despite being the star of their discussion.

But their plans were thwarted when Bill appeared in my office the following week.

Mouse greeted him with enthusiasm. While I did so with a little more caution than I should. I wasn't keen on starting more ungodly bad conversations.

'Hey,' Bill said. 'We need to talk'.

I nodded.

'Not here,' he said, grabbing me by an elbow and leading me towards what served as the office file room.

'Don't tell your old man, but it has everything to do with Luccio. OK, this is all about her. I need your help,' he started.

'Is Aunt Luccio under a spell, again?' I asked.

'She knows where Carlos is,' Bill said.

Oh.

'And she wants him stand trial for what he's done,' Bill continued.

Crap.

This would suck, I thought. Carlos had always been nice to me even if he needn't be, time I had his back for once. I knew when it came down to the fight, I would have been on his team.

'I believe I have not introduced myself,' Bill said, giving me his mischievous boyish grin.

'You haven't, Warden,' I humoured him.

'Bill,' he said, offering his hand.

'Maggie,' I shook it. That aside, we were a little hard pressed for time.

'Let's go, Warden,' I told him.

We took the Nevernever to the Winter Lady's apartment. Molly would definitely be interested in what Bill had to say. Especially when it probably had everything to do with Carlos.

And that, kids, was how I met Bill and how we subsequently started a war.

AN: Please do review. :)


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